1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device for executing multiple applications and a method for controlling the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a display device and method for controlling the display of windows in which multiple applications are executed.
2. Description of the Related Art
A desktop computer is equipped with at least one display device (e.g. a monitor). A mobile device having a touch screen (e.g. a mobile phone, a smart phone, or a tablet PC) has a single display device.
A desktop user can divide the screen of a display device according to his/her work environment, for example, by dividing the screen horizontally or vertically into a plurality of windows. When a Web browser is executed, the user can move up or down on a Web page using a page-up button or a page-down button of a keyboard. If using a mouse instead of the keyboard, the user can scroll up or down on the Web page by selecting a scroll bar existing at a side of the Web page using a cursor that is controlled by the mouse. In addition, the user can move to the top of the Web page by selecting a top button displayed in the form of a text or an icon at the bottom of the Web page.
Compared to the desktop computer, a mobile device has a small screen size and suffers from input limitations. Moreover, it is difficult to divide the screen of the mobile device.
The mobile device can execute various applications including basic applications developed and installed by the manufacturer of the mobile device and additional applications downloaded from Internet application sales sites. Ordinary users may develop such additional applications and register them in such application sales sites. Therefore, anyone can sell his or her developed applications freely to mobile users on the application sales sites. As a result, tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of free or paid applications are provided to mobile devices according to the products.
Although a variety of applications that interest consumers or satisfy their demands have been provided to mobile devices, the mobile devices are restricted in display size and User Interfaces (UIs) because they are manufactured in portable sizes. Therefore, users experience inconvenience in executing a plurality of applications on the mobile device. For example, when one application is executed in a mobile device, the application is displayed in the full screen on the display of the mobile device. If the user wants to execute another application, the user should first terminate the on-going application and then select an execution key to execute another application. That is, to execute a plurality of applications in the mobile device, the user should repeat execution and termination of each application, which causes an inconvenience. Moreover, there is no specified method for simultaneously executing a plurality of applications in the mobile device.
Besides, when windows for multiple applications are displayed in an overlapping manner, a user may want to continuously watch the full screen of a specific window. Therefore, there is a need to develop a method and apparatus in which a specific window may be displayed in the top level.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present invention.